


Doomsdating

by WaffleDogOfficial



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action, Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Post-Apocalypse, BAMF Haruno Sakura, F/F, Heist, Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-09
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-15 07:42:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,930
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29310531
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/WaffleDogOfficial/pseuds/WaffleDogOfficial
Summary: In which the post-apocalypse and a desperate search for medicine can’t stop a budding romance.
Relationships: Haruno Sakura & Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto, Haruno Sakura/Yamanaka Ino
Comments: 3
Kudos: 22
Collections: Naruto AU Week 2021





	Doomsdating

Dilapidated hospital walls greeted Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke as they passed through the empty streets. But before Sakura and her team could reach the entrance, sudden movement caught their attention.

A guard— a bored-looking man with long blond hair tied back in a ponytail— stood in front of the hospital entrance. Cautiously optimistic, Sakura took a step forward, Naruto and Sasuke following after her. Had they found an ally? But when she noticed the rifle slung over his back— painted red in allegiance with Akatsuki— she grabbed her teammates and backed away into a smaller side street.

To her relief, the blond man failed to notice them. He took out a set of firecrackers and lit them. After a short hiss, they exploded, sounding enough like gunshots to make her pulse quicken. The fireworks scattered rock and debris in every direction and when the dust settled, the man let out an amused giggle.

Heart pounding, Sakura squeezed her friends’ wrists and pulled them back against the wall of a building. She breathed out a sigh of relief that the man had been too preoccupied with his toy to notice them. And that Naruto and Sasuke had remained quiet.

“I’m just glad those aren’t gunshots, ya know,” Naruto mumbled at her side as he slid down the wall.

“Let me look.” Sasuke pushed past Sakura and took out a mirror. Frowning, he watched the guard from the corner, his eyes much better than his two teammates. He turned back and huddled closer so the three of them could talk.

“Now what are we gonna do?” Sakura whispered.

Back at their outpost, they were running critically low on medical supplies. If they ran out completely...

Sakura shook her head to push away the thought. No one was going to die on her watch. Not after everything they had survived in the last three years.

Naruto shrugged, a confused frown on his face as usual. “I dunno”

“We should go out and confront him,” Sasuke suggested. “We’re probably better at marksmanship than they are.”

“Yeah! We’re both really handy with guns by now, ya know!” Naruto’s grin almost made Sakura believe he was speaking the truth.

“We can’t risk our lives for a ‘probably,’” she scolded the two men as she slid down next to Naruto on the ground. Sasuke followed her lead, leaving Naruto in the middle.

“I can’t believe Akatsuki has control over the only hospital around here,” she whined. “Out of every possible terrorist group or gang...”

Sasuke sighed. “We could have taken control of the hospital from the beginning. Right after the first bombing—”

“You know as well as I do our village keeps us safe _because_ it’s in the middle of nowhere, Sasuke.” Sakura pinched the bridge of her nose. “There’s a reason why most of the survivors are from the countryside. And why the few city residents that survived got the hell out.”

“I guess our village is good enough where it is,” Naruto conceded.

Sasuke only grunted, which told Sakura he had no retort.

Sakura took a deep breath in and out to calm herself before looking at her teammates. “Well, considering we have a very dire need of medical supplies, what can we do?”

They thought for a few seconds before speaking. A moment later, they perked up and huddled close together.

“Exterminate them?” Sasuke suggested.

“Ask nicely?” Naruto suggested.

“Sneak in and steal the supplies?” Sakura raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms as she glared at her teammates.

“Or sneak in. That might be better,” Sasuke admitted.

Sakura groaned and rubbed at her temples as she begged any higher being that might be listening for patience. “Glad we agree,” she said. “But now here’s the question... how're we gonna do that?”

Naruto and Sasuke’s faces grew blank and they stared expectantly at her for a plan.

“Well, I’ve never even been inside this hospital, ya know!” Naruto said. “But you’re a doctor! And this is the closest major hospital to our village. You must’ve walked inside it before, right?”

Sakura shook her head. “Only a few times,” she admitted. “I only know the general layout. I don’t think I could—”

“Well, maybe I could help.”

A mysterious voice from up above made them jump in surprise and stare up, guns drawn and safeties off.

A woman with a heart-shaped face, blue eyes, and long blonde hair stared at them from where she sat cross-legged on a fire escape. Despite the three sets of guns pointed at her face, she was calm, staring at them with a raised eyebrow. The only hint that she might be nervous was a bead of sweat forming on her forehead.

“Who are you?” Sakura tightened her hold on her weapon and grimaced. She made sure to keep her voice as soft as possible in case the Akatsuki man was still nearby

The woman frowned, leaning forward until she was cradling her chin inside the palms of her hands. “My name is Ino,” she said. “And I said that I can help you.”

“What do you mean ‘help’?” Sasuke’s voice was cold and venomous.

Ino shrugged. “I was once a psychiatrist in that hospital,” she explained. “I also need to get new medical supplies but since I’m alone—” For the first time, she lost her composure, her hands shaking. “I would have quite a difficult time getting inside the pharmacy alone, I believe.”

“Wait, you’re alone?” Naruto lowered his gun by the smallest degree. His eyes filled with empathetic tears as they tended to do.

Ino gulped, hands clenched into fists. She shook her head. “I have...” another gulp. “I have three other members in my group. But... they’re hurt. I tried doing what I could with what I already have but... Mr. Asuma has a fever and if it doesn’t break... I think time won’t be enough.”

“A fever?” Sakura’s grip on her gun loosened. “How high is the fever?”

“Forty-one degrees,” Ino answered, biting her lip.

“Fuck. Forty-one?”

“It’s already been going on for two days,” Ino continued, looking closer and closer to tears. “Though it only got so high this morning. I gave him the last supply of ibuprofen I had but...”

That was enough. Sakura lowered her gun. There was reason for caution but she could never say no to a person in need. She had sworn the Hippocratic Oath and nothing would make her take it back. Even if there was no higher authority to report to anymore.

“Stand down, Sasuke,” she ordered, placing a hand on top of his weapon. “I think we can trust her.”

Sasuke frowned but did as commanded, placing his gun back in its holster. Sakura turned her attention back to Ino, who was now climbing down the fire escape

“My name is Sakura and these are my friends and teammates: Naruto and Sasuke.” She pointed at the two men. “So what did you mean about ‘help’?”

****

Ino led the way. She ducked behind bushes, trees, posts, and debris as she slowly but surely approached one of the hospital’s back entrances. Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke followed her steps , all on the constant lookout for enemies. To their relief, they saw no living creature except a murder of crows.

It took almost half an hour for the four to arrive at an entrance area partially hidden by trees and bushes. Windows adorned the outside, most of the glass cracked or broken. Clusters of dumpsters— long ravaged by scavengers— stood abandoned, ancient graffiti still visible years after the war. A small door the same color as the wall led the way inside the hospital. Without knowing it existed, the entrance was too easy to overlook.

With a finger up to her lips in a shushing motion, Ino scuttled closer, the others following at her heels. “I don’t know if the door here is locked,” she whispered. “But there’s a nearby window that we can break if— Aha!”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Ino grinned. The doorknob was broken but the door was slightly ajar, giving them easy access inside.

“And now we won’t have to worry about breaking a window and alerting someone,” Ino said with a smirk that transformed into a frown. “But we’ll still have to be careful. We don’t know how many members there are in the Akatsuki and what kind of security they have.”

“We can handle it, Ino,” Sakura reassured her as she placed a hand on the other woman’s shoulder. “We’ll go slow and be careful.”

Ino flashed a smile that made Sakura’s face heat up and heart beat faster. “Thanks, Sakura.”

Sakura forced herself to swallow, her tongue feeling heavier than usual. “You’re welcome.”

Ino smiled at her once more before turning her attention to their mission. Clenching and unclenching her hands to reassure herself, she placed her hand on the broken doorknob. In an instant, Naruto and Sasuke drew their guns, pointing through the small crack into the hallway. With a deep breath in and out, Ino pushed.

A soft whine came from the hinges and the four froze, pulses pounding as they half-expected an attack. But when nothing happened, Ino tried again, pushing the door until it stood open enough to let them all enter. They waited a moment longer.

“I’ll go first,” Sasuke offered as he lipped inside. He gestured for Ino to enter after him. “You tell me the way. Naruto can protect us from the back.”

“Secrecy is the most important thing,” Sakura agreed as she gestured for Ino to follow after Sasuke. “We go slow. Can you tell us which way to go, Ino?”

Ino chewed on her lip in a moment of uncertainty. But a moment later the self-doubt was replaced by determination and she entered the shadowy hallway behind Sasuke. “Of course I can.”

****

They moved at a snail’s pace, cowering near the floor with their backs against the walls. For the first fifteen minutes they heard nothing except the scattering of rats and insects. But once they moved closer to the pharmacy and the main hospital wings, they heard people for the first time.

“Sasori, I already told you we—” A dark gravely voice said from around the corner.

Before Sakura could blink, a warm hand wrapped itself around her wrist and pulled her away. The suddenness of the action and fear of getting caught kept her from screaming. Biting her tongue, she allowed the hand to lead her away into what seemed like a supply closet.

The sound of Naruto and Sasuke’s boots tiptoeing behind her followed as a door closed and left hiding in the dark.

“Wh—” Sakura tried to speak, but a small hand was placed over her mouth.

“We need to be quiet.” Ino’s voice whispered in her ear, barely audible.

Sakura nodded, feeling blood rush to her face. In their haste to hide, Ino and Sakura stood chest to chest, Ino’s lips almost touching Sakura’s ear. She felt Ino's breath upon her neck and the motions of her chest shifting as she breathed. A blush worked its way up Sakura’s body and she resisted the urge to squirm for fear of making noise.

Wishing to distract herself, she focused her attention on the voices of the people outside.

“What do you mean no more Botox?” An angry, youthful sounding voice shouted. “How can I look like this if there’s no Botox! Weren’t you producing more drugs at the laboratory?”

“Not my problem,” the same deep voice from earlier drawled. “Botox manufacturing is worthless. Can’t get anything nowadays for that.”

“Is everything about money and material possessions to you, Kakuzu?”

The other man snorted, sounding almost amused. “What else is there?”

“The joy you get from looking young and having a long life, for one.”

“You don’t need Botox for a long life.”

“It helps.”

The two voices walked past their supply closet until their words were indistinguishable. Sakura let out a breath of relief and took a tentative half step away from Ino, thankful the darkness hid her blush.

“That was close,” Naruto’s voice whispered a short distance away. He moved, presumably to shift positions, letting out a sigh.

“Let’s wait a few seconds before coming out,” Sakura said softly. “Just in case.” And also to give her heart time to slow and for her face to return to its normal color.

Sasuke grunted and the other two hummed in agreement. Motionless but for their breathing, they waited. Five minutes later with no footsteps or voices, Sasuke opened the door a tiny fraction, using his trusty mirror to check the hall.

“All clear,” he said as he pushed the door wide open and beckoned for them to exit. “Now which way?”

“The pharmacy is in that direction.” Ino pointed to the left. “That was a close call but we have to be extra careful now. I suspect there will be more people in that area, especially since we are getting closer to the main lobby.”

Sakura forced herself to meet the other woman’s eyes, fighting back a blush. The middle of a heist was not the best time to listen to her hormones. “Just tell us where to go, Ino.”

Ino blinked at her, an indecipherable look in her eyes before nodding. With a wave of her hand, she gestured for Sasuke to start walking. Sakura grunted, motioning for Sasuke to lead the way as she pressed her back against the wall. Silent once more, they continued their mission.

With the pharmacy getting closer and closer, hope rose. All they had to do was get inside, take as many supplies as they could, and get out the same way they had entered. That would be easy. That would work. Before the sun set, they could be on their way back to the compound while Ino stayed behind to tend to her group. With new medical supplies, they could—

Sakura’s hopes were crushed in an instant.

As they turned the corner, a tall man stepped in front of them, almost bumping into Sasuke. Sakura had frozen last time and she wasn’t going to repeat the same mistake twice. Before anyone could speak, her weapon was in her hands, pointed toward their newest threat.

Close behind her Naruto did the same. Weaponless, Ino crouched close to the floor, arms shielding her head.

Seeing Ino cowering on the ground spurned Sakura on, heart thundering in her chest. She turned off the safety and aimed at the newest person’s chest. The sound of gunshots would undoubtedly bring the might of Akatsuki down on them, but at least they could escape this threat. She bit the tip of her tongue, finger on the trigger, ready to—

“Wait! Stop!” Sasuke’s voice of all people called for peace as he put his gun back in its holster.

Sakura felt her jaw drop as she saw her friend take a step closer to the stranger. Was Sasuke going crazy? He was usually the one that called for _more_ violence not less.

“Sasuke?” The stranger called out her friend’s name as he too took a step closer. “Is that—?”

Sakura frowned. The stranger’s deep voice sounded familiar in a way she couldn’t pinpoint. Was he someone they had met before the apocalypse?

“Itachi?” Sasuke’s voice was certain and there was tension in his shoulders obvious even in the shadows.

Sakura gasped as she lowered her gun to point at the ground. Itachi? Sasuke’s aloof older brother? While she had never interacted much with the man, she remembered him from when she and Naruto had visited the Uchiha household. Sometimes he had even said hello to them before disappearing into his room.

When the war started three years ago, Itachi had gone missing, presumed dead. Sasuke had grieved his brother’s death, so soon after his parents. Sakura still remembered all the pain in Sasuke’s face when his brother never appeared again. The death of his family was a wound that she doubted would ever heal. But if Itachi was here...

Curious, she jumped to Sasuke’s side to assess the stranger from close up, the gun still held loosely in her hands. She half-expected Sasuke to be wrong and for them to have run into a look alike. But the man standing awkwardly in front of them could be no one but Itachi. No one else had the same lines under his eyes.

Itachi glanced at Sakura before turning his full attention back to Sasuke. He took a step forward, arms stretched in front of himself as if to hug his younger brother. Sasuke stood unmoving, eyes wide as he stared at the brother he thought dead. With Sasuke saying nothing, Itachi took another step closer, arms further outstretched for an embrace.

Itachi opened his mouth. “Sasu—”

Before Itachi could finish the word, a punch to the face knocked him away and down to the floor.

Sakura gaped up at Sasuke, who now glared at Itachi, eyes bright with fury and clenched fists shaking.

“You have a lot of explaining to do, Itachi,” Sasuke said in a voice angrier than Sakura had ever heard. Yet, there was an unmistakable hint of relief at seeing his older brother in more or less one piece.

“I—” Itachi coughed and spit out blood before staring up at his younger brother. He swallowed. “I guess I deserved that.”

The wrath in Sasuke’s eyes subsided but did not disappear. “Now talk.”

Itachi sighed and nodded, wiping the blood away from his split lip as he stood up. “I’ll tell you everything you need to know, Sasuke.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Hope you enjoyed the first half of the story so far. Romance is pretty low key for now, to say the least.


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